Wild Chase
This is the second episode of Vale, season 4. Written by Rainy. Read, enjoy, & comment! '' '' '' ''Wild Chase Fire woke up feeling sicker than she'd ever felt before. Groaning under her breath, she staggered out of the SpringClan apprentices' den and made her way to the dirt-place, where she promptly threw up all the contents of her stomach. Feeling only slightly better, she used the back end of the dirt-place tunnel to slip out of the camp. She just needed a moment to think straight, and putting some distance between herself and the camp was the only way to dull the pain when it came. Things were growing worse by the day. She'd tried to deny it at first, told herself that there was no way she wasn't imagining things. But she couldn't deny it any longer. Unless she did something about it, she was going to be kicked out of SpringClan for being a freak. What would Breezeflight think? The black she-cat was Fire's closest thing to a friend in SpringClan. Cats seemed to have mostly accepted Chamomile and Ryan, but Fire could still feel their judgemental glares on her pelt as she walked around the camp. Her role as a double agent hadn't helped either. Many cats felt that she was too good at pretending to still be on the side of the League. They thought she had too many faces to trust. "Out of all the things to pass down to Ariel and I, you chose the absolute worst, Father," she hissed under her breath. A sharp, insistent pain in her right front paw interrupted her thoughts. Wincing, she ducked below a bush and slipped back into the camp. In the moonlight, she could make out the shape of a cat crossing the camp. "Redbelly? Are you all right?" "Think I've got a bit of sharp rock lodged in my pad," the elder croaked as he limped towards the medicine cat's den. "I'll be all right, Blossomleaf will take care of it. She's an angel, that one." Looking towards the medicine cat's den, Fire saw Blossomleaf standing in the entrance. The moonlight lit up her face, and Fire could see she had heard Redbelly's words. Instead of looking pleased, her expression turned immensely sad, and she vanished into her den. "I hope you feel better," Fire told Redbelly as she returned to her own nest. Moments later, the stabbing pain in her paw vanished. Too conflicted to fall back asleep, Fire lay looking up at the roof of the den, listening to the soft sounds of the other rogues breathing. When she heard Redbelly bid the medicine cats good night and head back to the elders' den, she leaped to her paws and dashed over to Blossomleaf. "Fire, what's got you up so late?" "I felt sick, and my paw hurt," Fire said. Understanding flooded Blossomleaf's eyes. "Come in," she said, her jaw tightening. Lionpatch was already inside, wide awake, a jumble of herbs at his paws. "Sorry to wake you-" began Fire, but he shook his head. "Relax, we were just doing some tidying up when Redbelly came in. Are things getting worse for you?" "Much worse." Fire swallowed, licking her dry lips. "I think the disease is progressing. Time is running out for her." - - - - "The fire is spreading! Breezeflight, come on!" Daisyheart shrieked. "We've got to go back!" "Are you crazy? That Twoleg is headed straight for us! It probably wants to eat us or something because it thinks we set the fire. Follow me," commanded Ren. "Why would we do that?" Daisyheart demanded, spinning to face him. "Because if we go back, we'll lead the Twolegs right to SpringClan's camp," I said. "He's right, Daisyheart." Looking betrayed, Daisyheart said, "But- where will you two take us?" Grimly, Saori said, "Into our home. It's our best option." Both Daisyheart and I turned to look out into the field, where the flames were steadily consuming tail-lengths of grass. The Twolegs were trying to do whatever they could to put the fire out, grabbing belongings they wanted to save, or... shouting into little thin black rectangles that they pressed to their ears (not sure what good that did). There was no sign of Duskwatcher. I shuddered to even think about his gruesome death. I looked at Daisyheart. She gave me a small, resigned nod. "Lead the way," I told Ren. Immediately, he and Saori took off, leading us on an angle, away from both the SpringClan border and the Twoleg campsite. We ran after them, leaving Clan territory behind us. The ground was different here than on the eastern plains beyond High-Rock, where we'd lived temporarily after being driven out of our camp. Here, the landscape was less flat, full of rolling hills. The grass wasn't as long, either; it was scrubby and taut, and an ugly gray-green color despite the constant rain and sunlight. A terrible stench filled my mouth when I opened it for a gasp of air. "What is that?" I stammered as we approached a long, flat black path. "Thunderpath," Daisyheart said. "Goldenburst used to tell me about them when I was a kit, but I thought he was only trying to scare me." "I must say, I find most of your Clan words for things strange, but Thunderpath--that really suits human roads," said Saori. "We have to cross to get to the city. Neither of you move unless Ren and I tell you to." An earthshaking roar nearly drowned out her words. I huddled close to Daisyheart as an enormous creature with a slick, hard blue pelt raced past, it's huge round paws spinning across the Thunderpath's surface. "A monster," whispered Daisyheart. "Or, as Twolegs call them, a car." I was about to ask her how she knew so much about Twoleg things, but just then Ren shouted, "Now!" The four of us pelted across the Thunderpath. I was the first to reach the other side, determined not to stay on the unfamiliar, foul-smelling surface longer than I had to. Seeing how disgusted Daisyheart and I were, Ren cracked a half-smile. "Better get used to them. There's a lot more in there." He jerked his head, and I pivoted to see what he was indicating. Gasping, I breathed, "So that's Twolegplace." It was a neverending maze of large Twoleg constructions, dens made out of wood and rectangular red stones. Thunderpaths divided the dens, and monsters bulleted past with such a tailwind that I thought it would rip my pelt off. The air was constantly loaded with an overwhelming number of scents, none of them pleasant. Oh, how I missed the forest. There was a narrow gray path running alongside the Thunderpath, and we walked along that. "A sidewalk," explained Ren. "How convenient," I muttered, glaring at the flat surface and longing for the softness of the earth and grass underpaw. "Do they build these especially for cats?" Chuckling, Saori said, "They might, except I doubt they'd spare the effort. They're not fond of strays, which is why we had to get out of there before that Twoleg at the barbecue got his grimy paws on us. He'd have locked us up." Indignant, Daisyheart said, "We're not strays. We belong to a Clan." Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, Ren said, "I know all about your Clan traditions, trust me. But Twolegs don't. They don't care one way or another. They're incredibly stupid, but powerful. Don't mess with them." "Don't have to tell me twice," I assured him. "I already hate this place with every bone in my body." Daisyheart said nothing, but bit down on her lip and glanced away. Nudging her with my shoulder, I gave her a lick on the ear. "So what's the deal with you two, anyway?" Ren asked. "I don't even know your names." "I'm Daisyheart. This is Breezeflight. We're warriors of SpringClan," Daisyheart told him. "Ah." His gaze flitted between us. "Sisters?" "Practically," she purred, linking her tail with mine. "But no, really good friends." I smiled, trying not to myself be idiotically flattered by the fact that he thought I could be blood-related to a cat as pretty and poised as Daisyheart. "And you two? What's your story?" asked Daisyheart. Saori and Ren looked at each other, clearly trying to decide how much to say. Finally, Saori said, "We used to be known as Smoke and Fire. Our parents grew up with Twolegs, but Ren and I chose a different life for ourselves. We moved out onto the streets. A lot of cats would think us crazy for that decision. It isn't an easy life for rogues and loners in Twolegplace. But being housecats... It was like there was no purpose in life. The same mundane, repetitive pattern, over and over again. It was unbearable." "Don't know how kittypets stand it," I agreed. Daisyheart wore a frown. "Why'd you change your names?" "Out on the streets, the words 'smoke' and 'fire' aren't taken well," Ren explained. "It's because of what we call deathsticks. Humans have them, and there are two main types. Smokesticks and firesticks." "Smoke and fire," I recanted. "What are they used for?" Saori took up where Ren had let off. "Smokesticks are small, and usually white. Humans--I mean, Twolegs, use them to blow this disgusting smoke into the air and then inhale it." "What does that accomplish?" asked Daisyheart skeptically. Shrugging, Ren said, "Twolegs are incapable of accomplishing anything anyway. All we know is that when cats go near the smokesticks, bad things happen. They're horrible for you. Firesticks are a lot different than smokesticks, but even more dangerous, because you can't avoid them. They're long, and big enough so that only a Twoleg could hold one. I don't know exactly how they work; all I know is that when a Twoleg fires one, animals die." "Twolegs are too lazy to do real hunting, so they use firesticks to kill," said Saori scornfully. Shuddering, I tried to imagine a weapon so powerful that it could kill in the blink of an eye. Twolegs might be odd and awkward, but they were dangerous. There was no mistaking that. Look what they'd done to the field where they'd held their "barbecue". Obliterated it. Okay, so maybe that was a cat's fault. But for one thing, it was the Twolegs' fault for bringing those stupid pits of fire into a grassy area. And for another, Duskwatcher couldn't be held against all cats, because he was out of his mind anyway- Listen to yourself, I thought with horror. You sound completely heartless. Maybe I was. Maybe my heart had been slowly eroding all this time, pieces falling away with every tragedy I witnessed. Maybe someday there'd be nothing left, and I would be just a shell of who I was. Happy thoughts, Breezeflight. You're stuck in the middle of an unfriendly Twoleg-infested city, but at least you're with your best friend... and two weird rogues who you aren't sure if you can trust. When I finally zoned back into the conversation, I had no idea what was going on. Seeing my confusion, Daisyheart explained, "They're taking us to a place we can rest for a bit." "What?" I said. "No way are we resting! I'm not spending a second longer than I have to in this dodgy place. Daisyheart, let's go home." "Let's not," she muttered. Casting her a sharp glance, I said, "What-" Uneasily, Ren scented the air. "Um, guys, I'm ending the debate. We're leaving. Now." Following his lead, Saori sniffed once and widened her eyes. "Agreed. Come on. You two aren't gonna want to be here by yourselves, trust me." "But why-" Bumping my shoulder, Daisyheart said, "Just go. Ask questions later." The two of us ran after the city cats as they led us down a dark, smelly alleyway. I felt bile rising in my throat, and tried my best to shut my senses off before I grew light-headed. "Up the fire escape!" directed Saori, and shot up a series of rickety planks fastened to the side of a building. Daisyheart and I balked at the unfamiliar manmade structure. Ren paused on the fire escape, the look on his face partly irritated and partly understanding. "They're called steps," he said. "Come on, they'll take the weight of a few cats. It's better than the alternative." "What's the alternative?" I pressed, climbing onto the fire escape. When I reached the top, my legs were shaking. Give me a tree and I'd climb it like a squirrel, no problem. This, though... I had never had a fear of heights (despite injuring my leg during aerial training before), but looking down on the alleyway from the step I was perched on, I was starting to rethink that assertion. Beside me, Daisyheart looked a lot calmer than I felt. "What are we running from?" Ren hunkered down beside Saori, peering down at the alleyway. He nodded his head. "Them." I followed his gaze. A group of cats had entered. They were fleabitten and mangy, with a mix of mud and grime splattered across their pelts. One in particular caught my attention. He had a jagged pink scar down his face; no fur had regrown there, leaving the skin explosed and raw. One of his ears were chewed to a stub, and his tail was docked. His teeth were crooked and uneven, protruding from his mouth. I was terrified that one of the cats would glance up and see us, but they passed through the alleyway without a second look at the fire escape. When they were gone, I could feel my companions sag with relief. "Who were they?" asked Daisyheart. "Cats from the Red Arena," said Saori grimly. "There are three fighting arenas in this city. The lowest level is the Blue Arena--that's where, if this was a Clan, the apprentices would fight. Just young, inexperienced cats, trying to get a handle on their gawky limbs. Blue Arena fights are laughable, usually full of misguided blows. Then there's the Gray Arena. That's for most other cats, on days they just want to let off some steam, or if they're picking a fight with an enemy of theirs. Lastly, there's the Red Arena. Almost no one goes there. You don't go there unless you're dead serious. In the Red Arena, the loser never survives. And if a fight is too boring, the victor drags onlookers in and beats them up just for the sport. It's a very dangerous place." "So those cats are..." "Bouncers. They guard the Red Arena. They shove cats back into the fight if they try to run for their lives. They're cold and emotionless, even worse than some of the Red Arena fighters, because they spend most of their lives watching the kind of brutality that goes down in there. They're immune to screaming and begging for mercy." Ren's eyes had grown dark. I wondered if he had a personal vendetta against these bouncers. "What would they do to us?" asked Daisyheart. "I mean, we're not in the Red Arena." The detached, dry smile that Ren gave her answered that question. "They'd tear us apart. Or at least, you guys. You're outsiders. You don't know how dangerous it is for you. I know Clan cats think we're horrible, but know that we harbor an equally disdainful outlook on you--if not moreso." That was sobering--and also surprising, though in retrospect it shouldn't have been. Clan customs must appear strange and restricting in the eyes of these independent, rather selfish street cats. "So what do we do now? Can we go back to SpringClan?" "Let's wait until nightfall. Those cats will be in the Red Arena supervising fights then, and we have a better chance of sneaking off." "Sneaking? You act like this is a Clan territory with patrols," I said. Looking grim, Ren said, "Something like that. Only it's even more well-patrolled than Clan territory. Don't snort at me. It's true. You guys only send out one border patrol, right? Get past that one patrol, and you're good. But here, there's no such unity. So everyone is always patrolling--and the one thing they agree on is that if you can, beat other cats up." Pursing her lips, Daisyheart commented, "Lovely." "So get some sleep, guys. We'll see you in the night," Saori said. Sleep. On a rickety fire escape that rattled in the wind. I grit my teeth and lay down, pulling my tail over my nose as I curled into a ball. Sleep turned out to be even worse than I imagined. Not only was I uncomfortable, with the metal surface digging into the soft pads of my paws, but I was haunted by nightmares too. It started off as seeing Duskwatcher go up in flames. Then Duskwatcher became a blazing Ryan, who became Ivyrose, who became Goldenburst, who became Minkears, who became Daisyheart. It was torture, watching my loved ones burn alive. I must've whimpered or screamed, because the next thing I knew, Saori was waking me up and telling me that Daisyheart and Ren were missing. - - - - "Hey," said a soft, feminine voice from behind Ren. He turned, expecting to see Saori, but was surprised to find himself looking into a pair of large, bright hazel eyes. "Oh, hey. Shouldn't you be getting some sleep?" Daisyheart glanced towards where Saori and Breezeflight were lying on the cold metal, eyes screwed up tightly, like they were in pain even as they were napping. "Er, it doesn't look too comfortable. I'll pass. Besides, I have somewhere to go. I have a favor to ask of you." Ren raised his eyebrows. "What do you need?" "Oh boy, how am I gonna explain? It's a really long story, and you might think I'm crazy by the end of it." He eyed her steadily. "Try me." She shuffled her paws, sighing quietly. "Okay. Here goes." "There's this cat, back in our Clan. She's not actually a warrior, she's a rogue like you, but she--anyway, that's not important. Her name's Fire, and she has this gift." Warily, Ren said, "What kind of gift?" "According to her, her sister used to have it. It's a family thing, passed down from her father. But when Ariel died, Fire got it. At least, she got a part of it. She says there's three parts of the gift, but she only got one part, and it's the ability to sense the pain of others." "How is that a gift?" asked Ren. "Having to bear others' pain?" "Well, empathy is the most important thing sometimes. It helps you connect. And it certainly helps our medicine cats, Lionpatch and Blossomleaf, care for cats. But here's the thing. Fire knows... Fire says... that Ivyrose, my mother, is dying." It didn't take an excellent emotional interpreter--which Ren wasn't, by any means--to see how much Daisyheart cared for her mother. Her face crumpled completely on the last word, as if just thinking about it made her want to be sick. "Dying of what?" "I don't know," she said miserably. "But she's running out of time. Don't tell Breezeflight. She doesn't know about this yet." "Why didn't you tell her? I thought you guys were best friends." Hanging her head, Daisyheart said, "We are. Seriously, we are. But... I'm ashamed. You know how I made some comments about Twoleg stuff, and Breezeflight asked about it? Well, the thing is, I've been here before. I wanted to ask around, see if any kittypets could help me out. It's so embarrassing, at least, when I think about what my Clanmates would say. But I would do anything to help my mother." "Did anyone help you?" Ren asked doubtfully. He got the answer he expected. "No. I got attacked by a cat and driven out of a yard and into another. When the dog in there attacked me, I got out of there as fast as I could." She looked at her paws. "It was so devastating, because I risked a lot coming out here. SpringClan's sort of in a precarious position right now. We're just getting back on our paws after some hard stuff, and I was being really selfish by wasting my time-" "You were trying to save your mother," pointed out Ren, incredulous that she was mad at herself instead of the cruel cats who'd attacked her. "Yeah, but I didn't get anything done," she said hopelessly. "Which is why I'm asking a favor of you. Do you know any cat who would know how to get to a Cutter?" "A Cutter?" Ren yelped. "Why a Cutter?" "I heard they know what they're doing," she said, looking more and more desperate by the second. "I know how terrible it sounds. I know the Cutter's can be a horrible place, but... I have to try. My mother is dying, and there's no known cure in the Clan for her illness. It's inside her, and it's eating her from the inside out. I know it's a wild chase with a slim chance of actually finding a cure, but I have to do something. I have to try. I can't watch her die, Ren." A sob caught in her voice. "Don't cry," he said hastily. He didn't know what to do about an emotional she-cat. Saori was arguably tougher than him, and he hadn't seen her shed a tear since they bid their parents good-bye and hit the streets. Actually, there was one other time when he'd seen her break down--but he didn't want to think about that. "Let me think. I must know someone who could help you... I'm sure there have been other cats who've gotten the disease your mother has." He tried to focus on finding a solution, but found he had a tiny bit of trouble concentrating. As she'd narrated her story, Daisyheart had stumbled away from the other two sleeping she-cats, so that now she was hardly a pawstep away from Ren. Distractingly close. Especially since she was really pretty--annoyingly so. Ren wasn't sure why his mind was picking up on this, because he'd never bothered with she-cats before, not in that way. It had always been Saori who stayed out with toms, flirting and leading them on. She never actually got into a serious relationship, though. They both had coping mechanisms for what had happened a few moons ago; she put herself out there so that she had no time to think about the incident, and he pulled into himself and shut everyone else out. So he wasn't sure why it was this stranger, this Clan cat, who was making him notice the silkiness of her fur--like he could just bury his face in it and go to sleep--or the delicate upturn of her pink nose, or the glints of gold and green in her eyes. It was annoying. "I know who we can ask. Come on, follow me." He clattered down the fire escape stairs, and she caught up to him surprisingly quickly. The alleyways clearly made her nervous, so she stuck close to his side. She smelled sweet, like flowers. He'd never smelled anything remotely pleasant in the alleys before, but she was intoxicating. Irrelevant. Gruffly, he said, "We'll have to be quick, or Saori and Breezeflight will worry when they wake up and find us missing. Oh, and are you sure you don't want me to go alone and relay the answers to you? I don't want you to get hurt... Things can get pretty shady around here." "I'm here to save my mom's life. I'll follow you anywhere," Daisyheart said determinedly. The tiniest flicker of respect he'd had for her exploded into a bonfire. And it was ''respect. ''Only respect. Respect that was, for some reason, creating butterflies in his stomach. Ignoring it, he gave her a solemn nod. Together, they plunged into the heart of the dark city. The End Category:Vale